| In Depth: Why Julie Larson-Green is back doing what she does best Mar 20th 2014, 12:55, by Mary Branscombe 
Is becoming Chief Experience Officer a step down from running Devices and Studios for Windows and Office veteran Julie Larson-Green? Is Microsoft demoting her to make room for Stephen Elop? Or is it putting her back to work at what she's been doing for the last decade; improving the experience of Microsoft software? Back when the Nokia acquisition was announced last September, Steve Ballmer said Elop would run the devices group because "the critical mass" would be in phones (and he brings with him leaders like Jo Harlow and Timo Toikkanen who lead the smartphone and featurephone teams). Moving Larson-Green looks like a signal that Microsoft devices like the Surface will become part of the Nokia team, rather than Nokia getting swallowed up in the old Microsoft way of doing things. That's similar to the way Microsoft has kept Yammer and Skype as separate brands, doing more to integrate and develop them but also using them to drive new cloud and service-friendly ways of doing things in the Office and Lync teams. If there was any battle between the Nokia and Microsoft directions, Nokia seems to have won. And as Xbox already has a strong leader in Yusuf Mehdi who launched MSN, signed the Yahoo search deal and helped launch Bing, it's hard to see what she'd have ended up doing. Surface 2 unitedWhen we spoke to her at the Surface 2 launch and asked what Windows 8.1 did for the new tablet, Larson-Green emphasized the way it brought Microsoft tools and services together. "The power in the Surface device to run the Halo games and the full Office suite at the same time, snapped side by side, the low-light camera working with Skype [to adjust exposure automatically]… We spent a lot of time working across software and services with the devices team to make sure it all comes together in a seamless package." That's something Microsoft still needs to do better, and if there's one word Ballmer said more than devices or services when he announced the One Microsoft reorganisation, it was 'experiences'. "We're the company that delivers great high value experiences for work and for play," he said, name-checking Xbox and Office and Skype, promising "to define new experiences in expression, meeting, research, tasks, the way corporate information gets managed and held securely, and much, much more". It's not just devices and services, it's "a set of high value experiences, delivered through devices and services." New CEO Satya Nadella talks about the importance of "being able to build devices that encapsulate the rich experiences people now expect" because "devices are where experiences come together". It's how Larson-Green herself described the point of the reorg: "Bringing together the experience for customers at a Microsoft level". 
And experience is what Larson-Green has worked on since she left the Visual C++ team. She worked on the user interface of IE 3 and 4 then moved to Office in 1997, working on FrontPage and SharePoint before running the UI design for Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007. That's where she started work with Jensen Harris on the Office ribbon that first appeared in Office 2007, memorably body-slamming the six-foot-six Harris out of her way when the 2001 Nisqually earthquake hit during their first meeting. It's a perfect example of both her determination and her ability to get people to work with her even when the situation looks unpromising; Harris was impressed rather than offended. She and Harris even starred in a fairy-tale comic illustrating the advantages of the ribbon called The Enchanted Office. She moved to the Windows team with Steven Sinofsky and her job title for the development of Windows 7 was corporate vice president of Windows Experience. In 2009 hear team started on the touch-first interface that became Windows 8. For Windows 8.1, she started to look beyond the Windows experience and persuaded the Bing team to put a fifth of their resources into building the smart search feature as an experience to showcase results from Bing alongside your own files. Even if she is reporting to Qi Lu, head of the applications and services group (that's everything from Office software to Bing), rather than directly to Nadella, her new role running the My Life & Work team looks like a position that both fits her skills and is something Microsoft needs. It might look like a demotion but it's more likely to suit her than ending up as a third wheel under Elop. No poisoned chaliceLarson-Green's departure means most of the Windows senior leadership has changed since the launch of Windows 8 and the departure of Steven Sinofsky. Some have retired, some have moved elsewhere in the company; veteran Jon DeVaan left the company, OEM lead Mike Angiulo is now corporate vice president for Xbox hardware, IE leader Dean Hachamovitch is running a mysterious special project – but senior VP Antoine Leblond is still there. The team that creates the core Windows OS is intact (and supplemented by the teams building Windows Phone and Xbox), with Jensen Harris and Sam Moreau still driving design, Chris Jones running Windows services like the Store and what used to be the Live apps, and Gabriel Aul and Denis Flanagan looking after partners. Although it's fashionable to see Windows 8 as a failure, working on it isn't a badge of shame; with trusted senior leaders like Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore and research head Rick Rashid running Windows, it's far from abandoned. 
But 'big Windows' as it was once called internally, is no longer the centre of gravity for Microsoft. It's only one of 16 billion-dollar businesses inside Microsoft, although it's the basis of several of those businesses (Windows Server and Azure, Xbox, Office 365, Exchange and Lync, SharePoint, SQL Server and Dynamics all rely on core Windows because that's what Windows Server is built on). The emphasis is increasingly on cloud, and the services that run on cloud – because Microsoft is no longer a platform company. That means Windows may become increasingly invisible, as it turns into plumbing for services. As it stops being a high-visibility profit engine for Microsoft, it stops being an attractive team for executives who want to build their career on products and services and sales, so it's natural for them to move on.        |  | Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Fit finally get priced Mar 20th 2014, 12:35, by James Rogerson 
We're not expecting to see the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit until April but Samsung has already outed the prices, at least in Taiwan anyway. At a recent press even the South Korean giant revealed that the Gear Fit will sell for 5,990 TWD, according to Taiwanese site ePrice, which equates to roughly £119 or $196, which isn't too bad if that price holds for the UK launch (bad news: it probably won't). The Gear 2 might be a harder sell though, as it's set to retail for 8,990 TWD, or roughly £177 / $294. That's still not too bad given how feature packed the Gear 2 is. But once you add VAT it's likely that it will break the £200 mark here, which would be a bit harder to stomach, though that would still leave it nearly £100 cheaper than the starting price of the original Galaxy Gear. Stiff competitionWhether they're worth the money is a tough call, especially with the multitude of other wearables on the way, not to mention the fact that the Gear range runs Tizen, which isn't hugely appealing given that Google's recently announced its own Android Wear OS. Curiously there was no mention of the Gear 2 Neo, which in many ways looked like the most promising of the three new Gear devices. Lets just hope it's not been scrapped, as we really hope that the device (shorn as it is of a camera and extra weight) is probably the superior watch of the two.        | | Interview: In the future, every smartphone will have an 'always-on' display Mar 20th 2014, 12:12, by John McCann 
The Yotaphone may be the only smartphone on the market boasting an always-on e-Ink screen, but its creators believe it won't be lonely for long. Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Yota Devices' CEO Vlad Martynov gave his vision of the future, where all mobile devices could have the same always-on display technology. "We strongly believe in the future all devices, all gadgets, will have an always-on display," Martynov explain. "We've made the first step with the Yotaphone, and we believe this is an evolutionary platform and a completely new way for people to interact." Witness the fitnessMartynov see two core growth areas which can really use the second, always-on screen of the Yotaphone, the first of which is wearable devices. "What's most interesting are the wearable devices which have health and fitness sensors," he said. The problem with wearable devices such as the Nike FuelBand SE, Fitbit Force and Jawbone Up is their lack of a proper screen. Some do give you basic readouts on a tiny display, but if you want to view any real data you have to fire up the app on your smartphone. 
Yota is "working with several third party wearable manufacturers" to integrate various devices with the always-on e-Ink display of the Yotaphone. This will give consumers all the data from their band in real time, without having to use the power hungry main screen. Making fab phablets"The second most interesting area for Yota Devices is the phablet market," Martynov told TechRadar. "In some countries reading is one of the main use cases among smartphone owners, and those people would probably prefer to have a 5-inch, even 6-inch displays." For this reason, and the fact that supersized smartphones are big business in Asia, Yota Devices is looking at increasing the size of its full colour and e-Ink displays. Phablets don't just offer the advantage of a large display however: "Phablets also have bigger batteries, so they'll probably last for 3 or 4 days when utilising the e-Ink display technology." "We can leverage our concept, our platform and we can bring more value to wearable health devices and phablets." Yota Devices announced its second generation Yotaphone at MWC 2014, which features a fully touchscreen e-Ink display on the rear, larger displays and a bigger battery - but there's currently no time frame on the phablet device.        | | HTC One (M8) sizes up competition in new comparison shots Mar 20th 2014, 12:04, by James Rogerson 
Unless HTC is keeping something major up its sleeve there's going to be nothing to see at the One (M8)'s launch on March 25. We've seen it in action, know the name, the probable specs and now we've even caught a glimpse of how it physically compares to other handsets. A series of images from Nowhereelse show the HTC One (M8) next to a Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Sony Xperia Z1 and LG G2. Looking goodWe've already heard that it will be 146 x 70.5 x 9.5mm and these images support that, showing a device which looks to be a similar length to the Xperia Z1 and a similar width to the LG G2, while dwarfing the iPhone 5S and coming in quite a lot smaller than the Galaxy Note 3. 
It also looks thicker than any of these handsets, but if that's the price you have to pay for such a premium build we'll take it. 
It's worth noting that this is a dummy unit but according to Nowhereelse it should be identical to the real thing. - Last year's HTC One is still one of the best phones around. Find out why.
       | | Camera confusion as HTC One (M8) specs outed by official source Mar 20th 2014, 10:34, by James Rogerson -470-75.jpg)
With less than a week to go until the launch it looks like we might finally have the full picture on the HTC One (M8) as Chinese wireless authority Tenaa has certified the phone, spilling the beans on the specs in the process. According to Tenaa the all new HTC One will have a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 screen, 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM and will run Android 4.4.2 KitKat. On the storage front the phone will have a choice of 16GB or 32GB along with a microSD card slot and the camera is listed as 16MP and 4MP. Camera confusionIt's not clear whether that refers to the respective resolutions of the dual cameras on the back or whether 16MP applies to the rear cameras and 4MP applies to the front one. Either way its video recording capabilities aren't up to much as apparently it's limited to 1080p - which is still good, but the Xperia Z2 boasts 4K recording. Tenaa has also revealed the dimensions and weight of the phone, which come in at 146 x 70.5 x 9.5mm and 157g, making it slightly bigger and heavier than the original HTC One, but that's to be expected with the bump in screen size. All in all it's not sounding that different from the Xperia Z2 and Galaxy S5. Our one slight hope is that perhaps China is getting a different version of the handset, as there are sometimes slight differences between regions and in fact Tenaa lists it as the "HTC M8t", so that is a possibility. We'll know for sure on March 25. - If these really are the HTC One M8's specs then it will struggle against the mighty Galaxy S5.
       | | Samsung Galaxy S5 could be cheaper than Galaxy S4 Mar 20th 2014, 10:24, by John McCann 
The Samsung Galaxy S5 isn't going to be cheap - that we can be sure of. But there's potentially good news for anyone looking to pick one up as a report suggests it won't be quite as expensive as the Galaxy S4. According to ZDNet Korea, the Korean media is reporting that the factory price for the Samsung Galaxy S5 has been set at 890,000 Won (around $830, £500, AU$900). Considering the Galaxy S4 set you back £550-£600 SIM free when it first went on sale, that's a potentially decent price drop for its successor. How low can you go?There's no guarantee that this price will be the one which hits retail stores, and the cost may be bumped in other countries thanks to tax and other costs. One online retailer in the UK has the SIM-free Galaxy S5 listed for £549.98 (around $900, AU$1000), although that is potentially subject to change. The official Samsung Galaxy S5 pre-orders are set to go live on March 28, which means we hopefully won't have to wait too long to find out the actual price.        | | Apple patents an iPhone camera controller with its own screen Mar 19th 2014, 21:02, by Michael Rougeau 
Apple has been granted a patent for a remote control that would allow users to preview, take and review photos on their iPhones. The patent, titled "Systems and methods for remote camera control," describes a controller that features its own screen for displaying photos and notifications or status from the camera. Users could also potentially edit and delete photos that had already been taken. It would enable iPhone users to more easily take selfies, among other uses, the patent says. The remote would connect to users' iPhones via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or another type of wireless connection, and it would also enable users to record video remotely. Just what the world needs: more selfiesAre the days of stretching one's arm out as far as possible while still being able to tap the camera button over? Maybe, but the iPhone camera controller could also be used to record training sessions and more, the patent explains. 
Users can check the remote's display or other feedback points, like LED lights, to confirm that the phone has taken a photo or that it's capturing video. Part of the remote's appeal is that users wouldn't need to return to the phone to check their snapshot. A button on the remote would also let users switch between camera functions and modes. This patented iPhone camera remote control differs immensely from similar devices currently on the market, which connect to an iPhone with Bluetooth and take advantage of the fact that pressing the volume button on an iPhone snaps a picture. The patent was first filed in 2009. As always, it describes a hypothetical product that may never see the light of Apple Store shelves. - Here's everything TechRadar knows about the iPhone 6
       | | Huawei dual-boot Android and Windows phones aren't happening after all Mar 19th 2014, 19:15, by klee 
The official word on Huawei's dual-OS powered handset has changed quite a bit. The phone firm confirmed it has no plans to release a dual-OS smartphone running both Windows Phone and Android. Fierce Wireless first caught wind of Huawei's new statements reversing earlier decisions to build just such a phone. "Huawei Consumer Business Group adopts an open approach towards mobile operating systems to provide a range of choices for consumers," the company said. "However, most of our products are based on Android OS, [and] at this stage there are no plans to launch a dual-OS smartphone in the near future." Huawei's latest remarks are a reversal of the company's previous strategy to release such a device for the second quarter of this year, something Huawei device CMO Shao Yang told Trusted Reviews last week. A Huawei spokeswoman explained that the company's plans have changed since Yang made the comments earlier at Mobile World Congress 2014. Half and halfHuawei isn't the only electronics company to make an about face on dual-OS devices. A report earlier this week suggested both Google and Microsoft are unhappy about Asus' potential new transforming laptop. While the hopes of a future dual booting phone from the Chinese smartphone maker and more parties seem squashed for now, there's still a chance for Windows OS on Huawei mobile devices. "Microsoft is still a key global partner of Huawei Consumer Business Group," the company said. "As long as the consumers continue to demand Windows, we will continue to supply them." Following the company's first Windows Phone 8-powered device, the Ascend W1, Huawei pledged more are coming this year.        | | Three more Xperia handsets treated to Android 4.4 KitKat Mar 19th 2014, 18:06, by JR Bookwalter 
Android 4.4 KitKat has been washing across Sony's Xperia lineup like a tidal wave, and the manufacturer has a little hump day surprise lined up for three additional smartphones, with plenty more on the way. Sony announced the release of an KitKat software update for the company's Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones, finally delivering the latest and tastiest flavor of Google's mobile OS to date. Although Sony notes "timing and availability may vary by market and carrier," the KitKat release is at least official as of March 19, and promises to bring a host of improvements to Xperia owners. The changes range from tweaked Status Bar and Quick Settings along with a user interface echoing that of the new PlayStation 4 and updates to all of Sony's built-in apps, including the Walkman and Album and Movies apps with Sony Entertainment Network cloud integration. A tasty treatSony smartphone fans will also will able to dress up their Z Ultra, Z1 or Z1 Compact with new downloadable Xperia Themes, which can spruce up the user interface with upwards of 280 fresh assets in a variety of styles. And that's not all: Sony has also committed to second quarter KitKat updates for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia ZR devices, along with future Android 4.4 plans for Xperia T2 Ultra, Xperia E1 and Xperia M2 models. (Whew!) In a separate announcement today, Motorola also delivered good news for its Moto X customers on the AT&T network in the US, with the rollout of Android 4.4.2 KitKat as an over-the-air update. Once updated, AT&T Moto X owners will enjoy the ability to print documents or photos, improved battery life, the end of email sync delays and a fix for a bug causing data connectivity issues when roaming outside the US.        | | Three more Xperia handsets treated to Android 4.4 KitKat Mar 19th 2014, 18:06, by JR Bookwalter
Android 4.4 KitKat has been washing across Sony's Xperia lineup like a tidal wave, and the manufacturer has a little hump day surprise lined up for three additional smartphones, with plenty more on the way. Sony announced the release of an KitKat software update for the company's Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones, finally delivering the latest and tastiest flavor of Google's mobile OS to date. Although Sony notes "timing and availability may vary by market and carrier," the KitKat release is at least official as of March 19, and promises to bring a host of improvements to Xperia owners. A tasty treatThe changes range from tweaked Status Bar and Quick Settings along with a user interface echoing that of the new PlayStation 4 and updates to all of Sony's built-in apps, including the Walkman and Album and Movies apps with Sony Entertainment Network cloud integration. Sony smartphone fans will also will able to dress up their Z Ultra, Z1 or Z1 Compact with new downloadable Xperia Themes, which can spruce up the user interface with upwards of 280 fresh assets in a variety of styles. And that's not all: Sony has also committed to second quarter KitKat updates for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia ZR devices, along with future Android 4.4 plans for Xperia T2 Ultra, Xperia E1 and Xperia M2 models. (Whew!) Catch all the latest news on the Samsung Galaxy S5!   | |
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